


Reunion

by petrichxr



Series: Future Commander & his Tactician [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-02 23:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6586780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petrichxr/pseuds/petrichxr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His breath all but leaves him when his eyes land on the man he loves bandaged and tucked into a bed. His legs move him forward without him making the full decision to do so. Their eyes meet for all of a moment before Armin swoops in, leaning over the bed and pressing his lips to Jean’s.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunion

The clouds overhead were a clear sign that the weather wasn’t going to hold for them. It’s quickly darkening clouds foretold a storm that would put a nasty end to their expedition.

Armin pushes Maverick faster through the woods. He’d lost the formation not long ago when trying to get away from an abnormal. Having managed to get it off his tail (he’d forced it to run into a large tree) he’d rushed through the forest trying to make his way back to his section of the group. A chill runs down his spine as he watches the clouds for a moment, allowing himself a moment of distraction. Rain never boded well for the scouts. Whenever an expedition took place and rain happened things went south as quickly as possible. Trying to track the titans in that form of weather was nearly impossible.

His breathing speeds up as he continues to rush forward. Anxiety begins to build as he breaks through the trees finally and gets a better view of the sky. The clouds seem even more threatening in the open. It’s as if they are pressing down on the world trying to suffocate everything around them. He takes in a deep breath to try and calm himself down.

_Getting worked up isn’t going to do you any good._

The sound of hooves reaches his ears and his head snaps in that direction. A familiar grey horse comes riding towards them. After a moment Armin is able to place the brunet that rides it and can’t help the smile that overcomes his features. The relief he feels at seeing Jean is almost overwhelming and out of place in the field.

“Armin!”

The voice is filled with the same relief coursing through his veins.

“Eren’s been biting my head off the last half hour since we lost you.”

Had the normal bite been in his voice when he spoke of Eren the blond would have assumed he was telling the truth. Yet, he can tell that he’d been just as worried about him. Not that Jean would say that outright. He never had been good at expressing his actual feelings.

“Sorry. I went through the woods to get rid of that abnormal. Ended up getting more lost in there than intended. Didn’t mean to worry anyone.”

He offers a small smile towards the other. The brunet just shakes his head and nods back towards the way he’d come.

“We’re this way with the rest of the formation. Heading back because of this storm. Come on.”

Armin nods before tugging Marverick’s reins to direct him the other way. The only sound that surrounds them as they move is the hooves of their horses as they pound against the earth. He doesn’t know just how long they are moving when a loud crack sounds across the sky and it opens. Rain descends on them in sheets turning the dirt to mud almost instantly.

“Fuck,” is heard from his left where he can barely make out Jean’s silhouette.

“We need to move faster,” he calls out over the downpour.

He doesn’t hear Jean’s retort but he does notice him crack Poppy’s reins. Following suit with Maverick the two take off in a dash across the rapidly muddying field. Neither bothers to pull their hoods up knowing they’ll just get knocked off. But because of that visibility drops even lower than it already was. Too focused on pushing forward to try and meet back up with the group Armin doesn’t feel the earth shaking until it’s almost too late.

A large hand comes swiping at him through the rain and he tugs on Maverick’s reins earning a loud whinny from the horse as he comes to a stop and slides out of the way.

“ARMIN!”

The shout is heard loud and clear over the rain and its then he hears a zipping noise. A flash of brown passes him and he feels the need to follow after him.

“Get out of here! Keep moving forward!”

“I’m not leaving you to fight yourself!”

But there is no time to argue. Jean is too busy distracting the titan and trying to kill it in these conditions that Armin doesn’t want to even try and get his attention. He knows staying means his possible death but leaving also means the other could die just because no one was there to help him.

Maverick seems to decide for him and starts off in the direction they’d been moving beforehand. The blond looks over his shoulder to watch Poppy as she stays put waiting for her rider. Fear begins to settle in his stomach as he rides farther away, losing the sound of the gear and the titan as the rain continues to pick up.

He doesn’t know how long he’s riding, thoughts so preoccupied with Jean, when he stumbles upon the formation again.

“Armin, are you okay?!”

Eren’s voice is the first to reach him and he’s unsure how to answer him. He feels a chill rushing through his spine at having just left Jean behind. Sasha notices that Jean is missing and peeps up asking about it. When his face drops, shoulders hunched around his ears, Mikasa says to drop the subject, that Jean probably fell back to talk to one of the superiors.

But Armin knows exactly where he is or at least where he could be. A shiver passes through him as he directs himself to ride quietly along his friends.

Maybe Jean would be lucky and he’d join them soon enough.

* * *

The rain lets up as they get closer to the wall. It’s still at least a half hour before they’ll be within the safety of it but Armin also can’t focus on much. If he wasn’t around the others he probably would have ended up more lost than anything, roaming the large fields until a titan found him and swallows him whole.

How could he leave Jean like that? Whether or not he’d been told to he should have stayed. Who was he to tell him to leave anyway?

_Asshole. What the fuck was he thinking ordering me to leave him alone? ALONE? He could be hurt. He could be…_

Even thinking the words caused him physical pain. With the rain having dissipated, he keeps looking around him hoping to catch a glimpse of the brunet. But instead he’s just filled with more disappointment with each look he sends around. Mikasa certainly hasn’t missed his constant searching but she doesn’t voice her thoughts. She knows that the two are close, knows the feelings Armin harbors for Jean. Eren, as oblivious about everything as he was, had begrudgingly noticed it as well. And right now he could tell that something had happened when the brunet had gone to find his best friend.

The wall looms before them soon enough and they quietly make their way through the opened gate. Each soldier rides atop their horse or in the carts at the back. He thinks about the fact that most families would receive either a body part, a body, or the knowledge their loved one had survived through everything. But Jean’s mother wouldn’t know that her son had risked his life for him. A weak soldier that should have just died way back in Trost.

Shaking the thoughts off, he swallows the rising bile in his throat.

There was no evidence that told him that Jean was dead. There was no evidence to tell him the opposite either but he knew he had to have some form of hope. Maybe he’d made it back and just decided to ride in the back. Or maybe he’d ended up in the medical wagon. Any little bit of hope he could cling to he would. At least until they got back to HQ and he could see the list of those that were in the medical wing.

The ride there was tense. Townspeople whispered and pointed as they rode through the streets. The Scouting Legion was still nothing but a laughing stock. Even with the things they’d accomplished over the years. Guiding himself towards the stables, Armin only climbs off Maverick when they are right outside. He mechanically brings the horse to his stall and goes through the manners of getting his gear off and cleaning him off. It’s there that Mikasa finds him a few hours later. He’s absently scrubbing at the reins even though they are spotless.

“Armin.”

His name forces his attention to snap upwards and he instantly looks back down. Wiping the reins off, he sets the saddle soap to the side and dries his hands off. He knows she’s come to grab him because the list was posted. She didn’t say anything, probably not having looked at it herself, but walks with him so that he has something beside him to go and find out the verdict. There were soldiers surrounding the paper some weeping in relief and turning to move inside when allowed and others on their knees clutching their chests weeping in loss. He briefly wonders which he’ll be. Shakily he steps forward, scanning over the list to try and find the name that’s been on his mind for hours now. It’s towards the bottom he finds it. Black ink a stark contrast to the mostly white paper.

_Jean Kirstein._

A half-laugh escapes him as a few tears well up in his eyes. He turns to glance at Mikasa who gives him a small nod towards the door before turning to, no doubt, go find Eren. The nurse allows him in, telling him what corner of the medical tent to find the teen he’s seeking and he makes sure to be careful while he rushes through. His breath all but leaves him when his eyes land on the man he loves bandaged and tucked into a bed. His legs move him forward without him making the full decision to do so. Their eyes meet for all of a moment before Armin swoops in, leaning over the bed and pressing his lips to Jean’s.

It’s not what he figured their first kiss would be. He figured they’d share it beneath their tree or maybe out in the fields while their horses graze. Never once had he thought it’d be a kiss of relief, of reunion. Something that proved to them both they were still there. Jean reaches a hand up wrapping it around his neck and pulls him forward to deepen the kiss slightly. It’s desperate, needy. It tells him that he was just as worried. When they break away, Armin presses their foreheads together and takes in a deep breath to try and gain his back. The fingers on the back of his neck move up to tangle slightly in his hair and he sighs. At the feeling of Jean’s thumb brushing over his skin he opens his eyes to meet that familiar tawny gaze.

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

His voice is soft. He realizes they are in a medical wing and doesn’t want to make a huge fuss. Many others were dealing with their own things around them and he didn’t need to draw attention. Didn’t need to make others think he was making a scene. Jean doesn’t answer for a moment, merely continues the movement of his thumb along Armin’s jaw. Under normal circumstances he may find that relaxing but he needs an answer. Needs to know just why this boy had him so wound up for the last few hours.

“…because if one of us was to die today, I sure as hell wasn’t going to let it be you.”

Tears well up in his eyes and he shifts to press his face into the other’s shoulder that isn’t bandaged. The hand in his hair tightens slightly as he holds his head in place. Armin’s arms come to wrap around him.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again. Do you hear me Jean? I will bring you back from the dead just to kill you myself.”

His words are met with nothing but light kisses to the top of his head. A few moments later he’s moving his head and pushing their lips together again. It’s softer this time, gentler and less needy than the first. More of an security than an affirmation.

When he pulls away Jean offers him a soft smile before he pulls him close so that they can lie together on the cot. They both know the nurse will probably force Armin out at some point but for the moment they were content. They had each other. And in the end, that’s what mattered.


End file.
